Down the Rabbit Hole
by SpirittigerRei
Summary: After her world gets destroyed by a mysterious new enemy, Rei was forced to travel to another Realm by Koenma. Now she has to help the gang in preventing their world from going down the same path as hers. HieixOC
1. From one world to the next

Fire, destruction, and blood were all that could be seen for miles. Buildings that once stood proud against the red sky of Makai now lay as rubble. Bloody bodies of both humans and demons were strewn throughout the city and every once in a while you would see the form of a creature that was not quite human and not quite demon, unmoving. A young girl with very wild white blonde hair lay among the rubble. Her body was beaten and bruised. Large gashes covered her from head to toe. She let out a groan as she opened her golden eyes. Gripping the nearby stones she was able to work her way into a sitting position. Her eyes whipped around looking at the scattered bodies. A relieved sigh escaped her chapped lips when she realized none were of her teammates.

'We lost,' she thought sourly. There was no turning around from this. The best they could do was take as many of the enemy down with them as possible. As the girl tried to stand up she let out a yelp. Her vision blurred as she slid back down the rocks. Squeezing her eyes shut she let out a hiss of pain and annoyance.

"Rei, you shouldn't move. You're very injured," came a concerned voice. Rei slowly opened her eyes to see a very tired Koenma kneeling in front of her. If Rei hadn't known any better she would have said there was no way he could be a prince with that unkempt hair and dark circles under his eyes. She let out a small laugh but immediately regretted it. Her ribs were definitely broken. She tried shifting her broken body again, but a glare from Koenma stopped her.

"Please tell me you found something to help us defeat these bastards," she groaned. For the past three days Koenma had been frantically scouring the deepest pits of Spirit World's archives for a way to stop the beast that had attack the three worlds. His brown eyes were cast to the side as he shook his head.

"Besides the Orb, the only way to have defeated them was with the Urn… But they destroyed that," he said sadly. Rei gritted her teeth. Of course she already knew that. She was there. If only she had been just a little faster, maybe she could have prevented this. If only that damn King Enma didn't try to pin everything bad on her…"If only we'd had more time with the Orb! If they hadn't caught us by surprise…" she trailed off. "So there's nothing we can do?" Rei rubbed her eyes as they started blurring again. She was losing a lot of blood and her energy was almost gone.

"Well…" Koenma paused, brow furrowed thoughtfully, "not exactly." Rei blinked, not expecting that answer. "We can't do anything for _this_ realm. It's too far gone to save." He continued.

Rei flinched at the cold truth. She'd suspected as much, but it was still difficult to hear the words out loud. "What do you mean _this_ realm?"

"There are other worlds similar to this one. Realms that have their own Spirit, Demon, and Human Worlds. Under very specific circumstances, it is possible to go to these realms. Both must have a similar energy wave length. Additionally, it takes a great deal of energy to send a person to another Realm. Unfortunately, the enemy has also figured this out and begun turning their focus to crossing over to the next Realm."

"So there's another place that's going to turn out just like this…"

"Not if we can help it." A new look of determination sparked in the Prince's eyes. "Each world has its own energy source. That's how living things are able to survive on them. I can direct the Spirit World's energy into forcing a merger of our Human and Demon world with their Human and Demon world."

"What good will that do? Then the monsters will just have more to kill!"

"No. We found out about the Kodaishi too late. I'm going to send you there now, and hopefully it won't be too late for them. You can use their Orb and Urn to seal the monsters back up."

"What!? Koenma-" growled Rei. Koenma forced two envelopes into her hands before she could finish yelling at him.

"One of those is for you. It explains all of this in more depth. The other is for that Realm's Koenma. Give it to him as soon as possible. No one else must read it."

"T-that world's… Koenma?" stuttered Rei.

"While humans and demons do not have copies in other Realms, those who reside in Spirit World do." Koenma and Rei braced themselves as a large tremor crossed the land. A look of urgency crossing his face, Koenma quickly put a glowing hand on Rei's forehead. The glow from his hand spread down her body until it engulfed her and gave her a sense of stability. However, impossible as it seemed, she also felt herself grow weaker. "I was able to heal the life threatening wounds to keep you alive as long as possible."

"Wha-"

Koenma cut Rei off quickly. "I would do more but I need to save as much energy as I can to send you to the other Realm safely."

"Ko-" Rei tried to interject only to be cut off yet again.

"I also had to seal both your demon and spirit energy so that you can heal properly. You're going to need all the strength you can get."

"Koen-" she tried again.

"Not all your spirit energy. You should have just enough to protect yourself. Now-"

"KOENMA!" she yelled cutting him off this time. The prince snapped his mouth shut. "I don't care about any of that right now! What are _you_ going to do?"

An expectant pause filled the air. "Don't worry about me. Just focus on helping the other Realm." Rei's eyes narrowed.

"When people say not to worry about them, you should usually worry about them! What the hell Koenma!"

"This is all I can do! I can't fight here and I can't go with you!" Koenma snapped. "For once will you just do as I say without fighting it?!" The blonde reluctantly clamped her mouth shut and nodded. The teen prince let out a heavy sigh. "So you understand what you must do?"

"Find the other Koenma, give him the envelope, and kick some Kodaishi ass." She was oddly calm. Maybe because of his sudden outburst or maybe because the edges of her world were starting to blacken. Koenma may have stabilized her but her body still needed to heal. His eyes softened as he put a hand on her cheek. Rei closed her eyes for one last peaceful moment, leaning into his hand. "Thanks Koenma. For everything." And with that everything went dark.

The first sense that came back to Rei was sound. Instead of crackling fire and blood curdling screams, there was the calm sound of running water and chirping birds. The next sense to come back was smell and what a pleasant smell it was. It was a clean airy smell with a hint of flowers, completely opposite of the pungent Makai air she had been breathing. Then touch came to her. The last she remembered, she was leaning against jagged piece of fallen debris. Whatever she was laying on now was soft and kind of itchy. She debated whether she should open her eyes or not. She knew she probably should, but she was still so tired. As she heard a rustling sound to her right, she slowly peeked through her eyes only to quickly shut them again. Was that what the sun looked like? It was bright; _really_ bright. This time she opened one eye first then the other only to find two sets of eyes staring back. One was a cold set of ruby eyes and the other was a set of calculating emerald eyes. She really hoped that those eyes were attached to allies because she was about to pass out again.

Hiei looked unimpressed by this 'disruption in the woods' as the old psychic had put it. The only thing that seemed unusual about the sleeping girl was the amount of cuts and bruises she had. How she wasn't dead was a mystery to him. Even with that he was still bored with this whole situation. The only reason he was back in the Human world was because Mukuro had asked him to return. He suspected Koenma had something to do with that though. He scoffed. He'd come here to fight, not babysit a little girl.

"First, a secret Spirit World vault, one that Koenma did not even know about, gets broken into, then a strange young girl just happens to show up in the middle of Genkai's forest. Quite a coincidence don't you think Hiei," said Kurama as he crotched down beside the blonde.

"Coincidences are a fool's explanation." The fire demon walked over to stand on the opposite side of the girl.

Kurama let out a small chuckle. "I suppose that's one way to look at it. Well, it doesn't look like her life is in danger, but if we want answers we're going to have to wait. It doesn't look like she'll be up to talking anytime soon."

"Of course." Hiei rolled his eyes. Kurama's face scrunched in confusion as he stared at Rei.

"What Fox?"

"There's something…off about her." Hiei raised an eyebrow.

"Care to elaborate?" asked Hiei, annoyance now dripping from his every word. Kurama slipped his arms underneath the girl and lifted her up with ease. He continued to look at the blonde trying to find a way to explain.

"No," he said calmly. Hiei's eyes twitched. "Not because I don't want to, but because I can't. I'm not able to pinpoint exactly what's making me think that. It's purely intuition."

"Hn, let's just get back to the temple. That fool Koenma can decide what to do with her." It wasn't everyday something stumped the fox. Maybe this wouldn't be so boring after all.

After getting back to the temple, Yusuke called Koenma on his compact to update him on their recent discovery. Deciding that they didn't have time to just wait for the girl to wake up on her own, Yukina was instructed to slowly heal her. Kuwabara (and secretly Hiei) protested loudly saying it was too dangerous. What if the girl woke up and attacked her? Genkai reassured him this was the best course of action and the girl will be bound with spirit cuffs. How the old lady had a pair of those was anyone's guess. Yukina put a hand on Kuwabara's arm.

"Don't worry Kazuma. I'll be okay," she said sweetly. Kuwabara quickly grabbed her hands.

"Of course you will my love because I, Kazuma Kuwabara, will be there to protect you!" Hiei's eye twitched while the others chuckled. Hiei growled as he kicked the love struck fool away from his sister.

"Please, a weakling like you couldn't protect a fly." Hiei started walking towards the room where they had put the girl. Yukina let out a small laugh and followed after him.

"But I wanted to protect her," pouted Kuwabara. Yusuke let out a hefty laugh and slapped him on the back. "Quit it Urameshi!"

"Now's not the time for goofing around!" yelled Koenma from the compact now in Genkai's hands. Yusuke rolled his eyes and went back to the device.

"So, figure anything out about this vault you didn't even know existed? Aren't you in charge of the Spirit World now? Don't they tell you stuff like this exist?" asked the former delinquent. Soon after the first demon tournament, it was found out that Enma and the ruling party under him had falsified reports of demon cruelty towards humans and even brainwashed lower class demons to commit evil acts against them. The king lost his throne and was thrown into prison. Koenma groaned and rubbed his temples.

"Yes well I _tried_ to visit Father and get information but he wouldn't even talk to me."

"Nothing on the thief either?" Kurama asked.

Koenma shook his head in defeat. "We have video but I'm afraid there wasn't much we could uncover. We'll have to wait until the girl wakes up. With any hope she'll lead us to the thief."

"But he's not actually a thief right?" asked Kuwabara. Everyone turned to look at him and he nervously scratched his face. "I mean the SDF reached him in time and got that pottery thing he tried to take. He got away but he didn't steal what he wanted to steal." What he said was true. The thief did get stopped by the SDF and after a short battle the creature dropped what he stole and fled. After that it was decided that the gang would watch over it under Genkai's roof behind a sealed door.

"It's an urn and that might not be true. We don't know what was stored in the vault so we don't know if anything else was stolen," stated Koenma. "Just keep an eye out. Who ever went to the trouble of trying to get it will probably be looking for it."

"Like that girl?" asked Yusuke. "Do you think it's a good idea to keep her here so close to this urn? I mean, we don't even know what it does. There must've been a reason the theif wanted it right?"

"It's the only choice we have. I don't have anyone to watch over her here. All of my available ogres are trying to find any books that contain information on what this urn is for and the SDF are looking for the thief."

"Don't worry Lord Koenma we'll let you know as soon as anything changes," said Kurama.

Koenma nodded in approval. "I can always count on you Kurama." Koenma gave a wave goodbye and the communicator went black. All they could do know was wait. Kurama decided to read a book on rare plants in the Makai, Yusuke and Kuwabara played video games, and Genkai disappeared into her compound.

Rei didn't know how long she was out when she started coming to. She didn't feel like her wounds were fatal anymore but she still felt very weak and cold. Why was she so cold? An alarm went off in her head as she darted up off the bed and grabbed wherever the cold was coming from. Before her eyes could even focus she felt a sharp object at her throat. Not letting go of whatever she was holding, her eyes traveled to the person holding the sword to her throat. The boy looked absolutely livid. If she was made of wax she's sure she would have melted with the amount of heat rolling off his body. With a click of her tongue her eye ventured over to the reason he was so furious. It was a female demon with mint colored hair and red eyes filled with shock. She looked back to the boy with spiky black hair and red eyes glowing with rage. He let out a deep growl and pressed the sword into her neck a little more, drawing blood. Uninterested in the boy she turned her attention back to the female and looked down at what she was holding. She had the girl's wrist lightly gripped in her hands. They were still cold. She then noticed a pair of spirit cuffs on her own wrists. She wrinkled her nose at them. This was one of the reasons she was feeling so weak.

"It's okay Hiei," the girl said lightly. "She's not hurting me." Rei's head tilted to the side in confusion. Was that Japanese she was speaking? Rei let go of the demon's wrist and sat back down on the bed, ignoring the sword. She let out a breath and rubbed her face. She had too much of a headache for this. Cold hands touched her temples and she felt her headache fade. "I can't heal anymore of your wounds but I can at least ease the pain."

"You don't need to be so kind to her. She's our enemy," Hiei growled as he sheathed his sword. Eyes snapping around to meet his, Rei glared at him. This boy was annoying.

"We don't know if she's an enemy. Right now she's a guest."

"Yeah and pointing sharp objects at a guest is rude," Rei said blankly. When Hiei turned to glare she turned her head away.

"Care to tell us why you were in the old psychic's forest then?" Rei didn't answer him. In fact she didn't even acknowledge him. Hiei's knuckles turned white as he gripped the hilt of his sword.

"Woman!"

"Que?" she said shrugging her shoulders. Hiei bared his fangs with a growl. "No hablo japonés."

"You-" Hiei was cut off by the sound of fighting outdoors. Yukina ran to the window. The boys and Genkai were outside fighting a hoard of demons. These demons were lizard like with purple-grey scales and blank red eyes. It was a 4:1 ratio with the gang being completely out numbered. Yusuke looked like he was rather enjoying himself while Kuwabara did a very ungraceful dodging dance. Genkai was irritated and Kurama's calm demeanor didn't waver.

"Hiei, you have to help them," cried Yukina.

"I'm not leaving you alone with her!" growled Hiei jabbing a finger towards the blonde wrapped up like a burrito in the blankets.

"I'll be fine. I don't think she'll hurt me. Plus she has the spirit cuffs on." She looked out the window in time to see Kuwabara get clawed. "Please Hiei?" she asked with pleading eyes. The fire demon looked at his sister then to the burrito. He sighed and took out his katana. With a nod he went to the window. Before leaving through it he took one more look at the unmoving bundle and growled. Blurring into the fight he cut down a few of the demons only for those to be replaces by more.

"Nice of you to join us," joked Yusuke as he knocked a guy out with his glowing blue fist.

"Shut up."

Back in the room Yukina continued to watch with anxiety filled eyes. She cupped her two hands together and held them to her chest. She knew that her boys were strong, but there were just so many demons. She was so engrossed in the battle that she didn't hear the footsteps come towards her.

"Hey," called Rei. Yukina jumped at the sudden voice. She turned around and saw Rei standing there rubbing her wrist, now free of the spirit cuffs.

"The spirit cuffs. How…"

Rei tilted her head and stared at her. "Hm?" She looked at her wrist and grinned. "I've been put in them enough times to know how to get out of them." She started laughing at Yukina's confused look. As soon as she had started laughing she stopped and went serious. "Hey, are there any weapons around here?"

"They just keep coming!" yelled Kuwabara as he punched and slashed the lizards.

"And they won't stop until you tell us where the Urn is," came a booming voice from beyond the hoard. The fighting stopped as the gang turned and saw a smaller group of 5 humanoid demons coming out of the forest. Two were a deep red color with slanted pure black eyes, pointy ears and long limbs. The other three could pass as bulky humans if not for the fangs that peeked from under their lips. One of the red demons was holding a golden framed mirror in his clawed hands. What was strange about the mirror tough was that instead of reflecting the outside world, it held an image of the lizards they were fighting. The other red demon, who had called out to the gang, stood proudly in the front. He seemed to be the leader – and a cocky one at that.

"And you are?" asked Yusuke snarkily.

"I don't care who they are. Get off my property!" yelled Genkai grumpily.

"Not until you tell us what we want to know."

"And what makes you think we know?" asked Kuwabara.

"You work for the Spirit World do you not?"

"Not by choice," Hiei sneered.

"Nevertheless, the Urn was in Spirit World possession so you must know where it is." Suddenly, two arrows surrounded by purple energy whizzed by them, straight towards the demon holding the mirror. One arrow hit the middle of the mirror, breaking it, the other right between the demon's eyes, killing him instantly. As the demon began to fall backwards it disintegrated into nothing, the lizards disappeared along with him. Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

"Ne ne, how many of those mirror thingies do you have?" Everyone turned to look at the temple's entrance to see Rei holding a bow already loaded with another arrow and next to her was Yukina holding the quiver. The bow and arrows themselves looked very old but it went unnoticed as everyone was focus of the glowing purple energy surrounding it. A growl turned everyone's attention back to the intruders. One of the more humanoid demons bared his fangs as his eyes locked onto Rei.

"How did you get to this world?" He asked with a low gruff voice.

"I took a cab," she replied, not lowering the bow. The demon's eyes narrowed as he nodded to the other two bulky demons. They turned and started heading back to the forest from which they'd come.

"Wait! Where are you going?" shouted the red demon. The three stopped and turned back toward him.

"You said we would fight spirit detectives after they were tired down from fighting your lizards. You never said anything about Guardians especially _that_ Guardian. We've heard stories. We aren't about deal with that." Rei scowled. She did _not_ like being referred to as 'that'.

"You leave now and the masters will kill you!" The departing demons took one look at Rei's unwavering eyes and turned back towards the forest.

"Death would be preferred over her," he said with his head down. "We're leaving."

"Hey! You can't just leave in the middle of a battle!" yelled Yusuke, readying his spirit gun.

"Yeah, what makes you think I'm going to let you leave?" asked Rei.

"We'll tell them the Urn's not here and that Spirit World's workers aren't very informed. That should give you enough time to form some sort of plan." Rei closed her eyes in thought and slowly nodded. When she opened them back up she shot her arrow straight at the last red demon. His fate was much like his teammate.

"You don't need him to do that," she said lowering the bow.

"Who says we're going to let you go? She doesn't make the rules around here!" growled Yusuke. The remaining demons looked at him, then back to Rei.

"Bye," she said forcefully. The demons took that as a cue to start walking again. The leader stopped one last time and turned to Rei.

"One last thing; our world. Has it truly been destroyed?" Rei averted her eyes, clenched her fists and didn't answer. "I see." And with that the three demons disappeared into the forest. Once they were gone, the boys turned to glare at her. Genkai merely studied her quizzically.

"The million dollar question was if you were friend or foe," stated Yusuke. "I'm leaning towards foe right now."

"Yeah, someone on our side wouldn't let the enemy go," said Kuwabara. "We could have gotten information from them."

Rei turned and grinned at the two boys. "Nah, they wouldn't have known anything. They were only lower ranked soldiers and unwilling volunteers." Hiei moved closer, his sword held ready to attack.

"And how do you know that?" growled the fire demon. "We can't trust your words."

"Que?" Rei questioned him with wide eyes. "Yo no hablo con personas de baja estatura _(I don't talk to short people)_." The heat from Hiei's body was suffocating. He was getting very fed up with this woman. He moved even closer to her with a look that could kill, but Genkai stepped in front of him, cutting him off gracefully, and approached her. Even though she was a great deal shorter than Rei, it was evident she had immense skill and power.

"You know, that is a 200 year old bow you're manhandling," she said in a menacing tone. Rei's jaw dropped and a panicked look crossed her face. She shoved the bow into Yukina's arms and began bowing several times.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried.

"Yet you wielded it like it was your own." A small smirk crossed her face. "Impressive." Rei straightened back up to her full height of a whopping 5'5".

"Thank you. But back to business." She turned back to the boys with a serious look on her face. "So you work for Spirit World right?"

"More or less," said Yusuke. Rei looked straight into his eyes with cold eyes.

"I need to see Koenma. ASAP." Yusuke lifted his chin in defiance. He and Rei continued to size each other up, neither planning on backing down.


	2. What a weirdo

A/N: Sorry about not updating. After the first chapter I went to Japan then got caught up in holiday stuff. I finally got inspiration back and I hope to update more regularly now!

Chapter 2

The gang stared silently at Rei, who was calmly sipping the tea Yukina had made everyone. The girl had refused to answer any questions that were thrown her way. She'd stated that the only person she would answer to was Koenma and she planned on sticking to that.

"You know you can at least tell us your name," grumbled the Spirit Detective. Still, the girl remained silent as she took another sip of her tea. "Hey! Hello! I'm talking to you! I know you speak Japanese! It's not very _good_ but you _do_ speak it!" Again, there was no acknowledgment. Yusuke grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her closer to him, yelping and jumping back as Rei poured the hot tea on his hands with a fierce glare.

"Dimwit," signed the old psychic. Yukina rushed over to Yusuke and healed his burned hands. Yusuke said his thanks and shot a pointed glare at Rei, who stuck out her tongue in response.

"I think we all started off on the wrong foot," remarked Kurama, trying to break the tension. "My name is Kurama." He held out a hand to the wary-looking girl.

After a moment of hesitation, she shook his hand. "Rei."

"See Yusuke, a little bit of kindness goes a long way." The delinquent huffed in contempt.

"Yeah Urameshi!" laughed Kuwabara. Hiei rolled his eyes from the windowsill. As far as he was concerned, they were all annoying and the only reason he was still here is because he didn't trust this Rei girl being in the same room as his sister. "My name is Kazuma Kuwabara! Toughest fighter around!" Hiei let out a snort. "What was that shorty? You got something to say?!" Kuwabara chided.

"You are a grade-A fool," Hiei said, turning his attention back out the window. Rei let out a short laugh. Hiei turned to glare, opening his mouth to throw an insult her way, but everyone's attention was suddenly captured by the sound of the paper rice door sliding open. In walked a teenage Koenma and his blue-haired assistant.

"It's about time," grumbled Genkai. Koenma ignored the old lady and sat across the table from Rei.

"I'm hoping you can shed some light on what's happening here," he addressed sternly. Rei let out a sigh. He looked like her Koenma and sounded like her Koenma, but there was just something off. It was something that made this Koenma and her Koenma different. She turned her attention to the blue-haired girl that had followed him into the room. Rei had seen her in passing when she was summoned to Koenma's office, but had never talked to the Reaper. Part of Rei was glad for that. It was hard enough talking to a Koenma that didn't know anything about her; she couldn't imagine how difficult it would be if there was another friend that didn't know her. Koenma let out a small cough to regain her attention. "I hate to rush, but I am a very important person with lots of things to do."

"Like bottle feedings and diaper changes?" teased Rei. Koenma, along with everyone else, looked incredibly shocked.

"How–" Koenma began, affronted, but cut off before he could continue by Rei shoving a manila envelope in his face. Koenma's eyes widened as he noticed the seal that was stamped on the envelope. "This seal… Where did you get this?"

"The Koenma from my world gave it to me."

Yusuke looked between the girl and his boss with confusion written across his face. "Can someone _please_ explain to me what's going on?"

"Yes, I think we would all like an explanation," stated Koenma. Koenma stood up and motioned for Rei to follow him. "But first you and I need to talk. In private." Rei sunk into her seat and groaned.

"Do I have to?" she whined. Koenma's eye twitched in annoyance.

"What? Yes!" Koenma took a deep breath to try and calm down.

The girl dropped her head to the table and groaned again. "But…can't we like…not and say we did?" The teen ruler angrily ran his hand through his hair.

"Did you have this kind of attitude with your world's Koenma?"

"No," she replied shaking her head innocently. Koenma accepted the answer and started to turn around to leave the room. "I'm usually much worse. I'm just easing you into it." She grinned devilishly. It was Koenma's turn to groan. He was getting flashbacks of young, disobedient Yusuke. Not that much had changed.

"Will you just follow me?" he shouted.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get your diapers in a bunch." After they left, the boys just looked at each other with wide eyes.

"She's a little weird," stated Kuwabara.

"Like you're one to talk," sassed Yusuke.

"Can it Urameshi!" he yelled, pulling his friend into a headlock. Kurama gave a quiet chuckle, while Hiei just shook his head. "So what do we do now?" he asked, struggling as Yusuke slipped out and reversed their positions, putting him in a tight chokehold.

Genkai took her pipe from her pocket and headed towards the door. "We wait." Kurama nodded in agreement and went back to reading his book. Botan asked Yukina if she could help make dinner and Yukina graciously accepted. Hiei went back to staring out the window and the other two boys decided to play video games, Yusuke finally letting go of Kuwabara's head.

About an hour later, Koenma finally put down the contents of the manila folder that Rei had handed him. He rubbed his temples, head swirling from all the heavy information. He glanced at the girl across from him. She looked bored as she inspected her nails. She only spoke when Koenma would ask questions, and her answers were always short and to the point. "You know there's a whole page on just you in here right?" he inquired, gesturing to the packet and trying to get her to speak with more than a few-word answer.

"Only a page?" she asked, not seeming too surprised.

Koenma held up a flash drive. "It says that the rest of your file is on here. I know what I need to know, and I believe I can trust you staying here and joining the team."

Rei sighed and stood up. "Sorry, I can't say the same but I guess I don't have much of a choice right now. I made a promise to stop these assholes and you guys are the best option for that." She turned and walked out the door. Koenma sighed again, put the papers under his arm, and followed her out. They made their way back to the other room and Koenma gathered everyone back to explain how Rei was from a different realm and how she had gotten to this realm.

"Okay I'm lost," objected Yusuke as he looked at Rei. "So is there another me from whereever you're from?"

Rei shook her head. "Only people from Spirit World had doubles. Don't ask me why. I have no idea."

"So then there's another Botan?" asked Kuwabara.

"There was. I didn't know her," noted Rei. Botan paled at the word 'was'. Noticing Botan's demeanor, Kurama decided to change the subject slightly.

"It would be interesting to compare our world to yours. Were you considered the spirit detective in your realm?" he asked. Rei tilted her head in confusion.

"What's a spirit detective?" she asked.

"That would be me!" stated Yusuke proudly.

"He's the human world's protector from demons who start causing trouble. Though he does a lot more work in the Makai now than he used to, ever since the barrier's come down," clarified Botan.

"Oh, uh, no, I'm a member of the Spirit Guardians. We work mostly in the Makai. There are a few teams that are ordered to go into the Human world if need be. Never my team though." The others looked at her. Even Hiei, who hadn't even acknowledged she had come back, started to pay attention

"Wait, I'm confused again," claimed Yusuke. "Aren't you human?"

"Yes?" Rei responded questioningly.

"Then what are you doing in the Makai?"

"I live there?" Yusuke stared at her, confused, and received a similar stare back.

"But humans have a hard time surviving in the Makai. I mean, Kuwabara can only stay a few months before the air gets to be too much."

"I told you it wasn't the air Urameshi! I had to get back to my cat!" yelled Kuwabara.

"Do _you_ not have a problem?" Rei asked Yusuke. Yusuke didn't seem like a normal human, but with most of her energy sealed it was hard to pin point what was different about him. It was the same with Kurama; he seemed human, but it was hard to tell. She could tell Kuwabara and Genkai were human, while Hiei and Yukina were demon by their pure scents.

"Well I'm half demon," grinned Yusuke. Rei's eyes widened in shock and her lips turned up in the first true smile they'd seen from her so far.

"Really?" she asked excitedly.

"See, I was born human but then some shit happened, I died, and my ancestral demon dad's blood activated. I became much more powerful and had super long hair and was covered in tattoos."

Rei's smile faded and her eyes had a sadness to them. She turned to Kurama. "What about you? Are you a half demon like him? I can sense the human in you."

"My situation's a little bit different. I have a human body with a demon soul in it," explained Kurama, observing her change in attitude. Rei's demeanor weakened even more. "Is something wrong?"

"You guys are different," she sighed after a few seconds of silence. Kuwabara let out a loud laugh while Yusuke scowled.

"Says the girl from another world," he hissed. The two Spirit World employees glared at each other once more. Koenma gave a short cough to regain everyone's attention.

"I think we should focus on the enemies." That headache seemed to be coming back in full force. And then some. Rei turned her attention to Koenma and gave a curt nod. He gave her a look that said 'start speaking' but she just blinked. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "The Koenma from Rei's world wrote out everything they know about our enemy. Unfortunately, it isn't very much."

"So what kind of big bad demons are we talking about?" asked Kuwabara.

"They aren't demons," Rei interjected, claiming everyone's attention. "They're called Kodaishi and they're old. Like real old. Koenma's great-great-great grandfather old. Humans living in caves old. Older than-"

"We get it," growled Hiei.

"Las personas cortas no deben hablar (Short people shouldn't talk)." In an instant Hiei had Rei lifted by the collar. The girl smirked at the irritation in the fire demon's eyes.

"Hiei, calm down. We can't afford to waste time fighting amongst ourselves," lectured Kurama putting a hand on his shoulder. Hiei let out another growl and flitted back to his spot on the window sill. The blonde straightened out her collar and sat back down with a smug look on her face. Koenma dug his fingers further into temples.

"Can we please get back to the Kodaishi?" he groaned.

"Right, right." Rei leaned backed and let out a low hum. "There isn't much else known. Maybe I should just start from the beginning. It all started about 6 months ago when something broke into a hidden vault."

"Well that sounds familiar," scoffed Yusuke.

"According to the SDF's investigation, nothing seemed to be taken or even touched. Then the next day another vault was broken into."

"Was this one hidden as well?" The girl nodded at the fox's question. "It seems there are a lot of those."

"Every king wants to hide something." The two former delinquents gave her a questioning look. "What? Did you really think baby breath and his big bad daddy were the _only_ rulers?" They nodded in response.

"My family lives a long time but we aren't immortal," stated Koenma with crossed arms. "Continue."

"So after the second break in, they thought they knew who the suspect was and took that person into custody. Unfortunately they were wrong. In the middle of the interrogation the third vault was broken into. This one held the Urn. By the time I got there some of the SDF had him cornered. I guess he freaked out and shattered the Urn. Then he killed himself." Rei paused for a few seconds so they could process the information before moving on. "After all that, things started to go to shit."

"The Kodaishi attacked?" asked Kuwabara

"No. 99% of the human world was destroyed in a matter of hours," stated the girl in a deadpan voice. Everyone, including Hiei, stopped and stared at Rei with shocked eyes. No one could, nor wanted to, comprehend what the girl had just said. Botan was the first to say anything.

"How is that even possible?"

"From what I gathered, they broke the first barrier to their prison and the aftershock destroyed the Earth's atmosphere," Rei stated nonchalantly.

"I…I don't understand…" stuttered Kuwabara.

"Were they sealed on Earth or something?" asked Yusuke.

"No, if they were as evil and powerful as they seem, their prison would have been in a dimension pocket," muttered Koenma mostly to himself.

"Lord Koenma, would you care to explain?" asked Kurama. Koenma let out a long sign.

"Dimension pockets are just small areas of nothing that live on their own plain. Sometimes tears between our world and the pockets would open, and when Spirit World found them they decided to use them as prisons. The worst of the worst would be put in one and several Kekkai-like barriers would be put up to lock them in. If you look at the night sky, some of those twinkling stars are really just the flickering of a kekkai barrier" Koenma looked at the many faces staring at him. Most were shocked or confused. Even Hiei looked taken back. Rei looked like she had already heard this speech and Genkai was too old for things like this to surprise her anymore.

"After the first barrier broke a lot of the Kodaishi's minions, like the ones from earlier, attacked the Makai," continued Rei. "We were able to hold them at bay for three months until the next barrier broke and another wave of stronger soldiers came out. They also started to capture demons and force them to fight on their side. Spirit World had to go into total lock down." Botan let out a gasp.

"All those poor souls. They wouldn't be able to reach their resting place," she sympathized.

"A few more months went by and one more seal broke." Rei's eyes went cold and her voice lowered. "The weakest of the Kodaishi came out."

"What happened?" Yusuke asked, leaning forward.

"The moment that _thing_ stepped foot in the Makai, we lost. There was no way we could take it down. None of our attacks worked. Hell, they didn't even make a dent. And according to _this_ thing," she added, gesturing to the packet in front of Koenma, "there's six more of them waiting to break free!" The blonde ran a hand through her hair. "It hit me with a blast of something that wasn't spirit energy and definitely wasn't demon energy. Almost killed me."

"Sacred Energy?" asked Hiei.

"Hmm… It's not likely. They don't seem to be human but perhaps something along that line," stated Kurama. "Please continue."

"There's not much else. An earthquake happened. A big one that separated me from the rest of my team...and the Kodaishi. I'm not sure if my team is alive or not." The gang looked at her as she hesitated saying the last part.

Yukina quickly stood straight up, startling everyone else. She had not spoken during the whole conversation, but she now had a look of determination. "Rei!" she spoke firmly.

"Y-yes?" Rei asked, taken-aback.

"I shall prepare a bath for you!"

"Huh?" Rei looked down at herself and wrinkled her nose. She was caked in mud and dried blood. Her clothes were ripped where wounds used to be before Yukina had healed them. Her hair was flat and dull from sweat and dirt. Rei couldn't remember the last time she'd had a proper bath. Since the fighting had started, she would just jump in the river to wash off, not staying in long for fear of being out in the open for too long. "Um…okay…thank you?"

Yukina nodded with vigor. "And then I'll have dinner ready and we can all have a nice warm meal together!" Rei's stomach growled at the word dinner. Just like the bath, she hadn't had a decent meal for months. Only rations, nutrient pills, and the occasional demonic fish. Yukina made her way towards the bathroom before stopping and asking Rei to follow her. Rei quietly nodded and stood up from her seat.

"Wait! We aren't done talking about the Kodaishi!" argued Koenma.

"Such talk can wait until after dinner," ordered Yukina sternly. Hiei smirked at his sister. She was as stubborn as him when she had her mind set on something.

Genkai let out a drag from her pipe. "She's right. We just got a lot of new information shoved down our throats so let's take a few to digest it. Plus she's starting to stink up my home." Rei's eye twitched. It's not like it was her fault. Koenma sighed and nodded in agreement. Maybe this headache would start to go away. Just before Rei left the room, she turned back to face everyone.

"Let me make one thing clear though. I do not trust any of you as I'm sure none of you trust me. But this was my Koenma's last wish and I will honor it by doing whatever I can to help take down these bastards." Rei turned away but didn't leave. A shadow covered her face as she let her hair fall over it. "I will not let your world be destroyed like mine was. I won't allow them to have that satisfaction again. You have my word." With that she nodded to herself and started to follow Yukina. The ice apparition led her to a decent sized room with a dresser and two closets.

"This is where our friend Keiko stays when she comes over… well when she's fighting with Yusuke, which is most times."

"Yusuke's the one with the slicked back hair, right? This Keiko girl is his girlfriend?" Yukina nodded with a smile.

"Sometimes it might not look like it, but they do really love each other. Keiko may say she's sleeping in here but sometime during the night, she ends up back with Yusuke anyway." She made her way over to the dresser and pulled out one of the drawers. "She'll be closest to your size so you can choose whatever clothes you'd like to wear. There are some dresses and jackets in the closet if you want to wear one of those." Yukina made her way back to the hallway. "Take your time choosing. I'll be back once the bath is ready." Rei muttered a quiet 'thanks' and walked over to the dresser. She went to the drawer Yukina had opened to find a couple of t shirts and blouses. She closed it and went down to the next one to find a couple shorts, a few pants, and some skirts. Rei sighed at her choices. Although she was very grateful for a change of clothes, these were just a little too much on the girly side for a tomboy like Rei. In the end, she chose a simple pair of dark jeans and a blue tank top. She walked over to the closet and took out a black military-style jacket with silver buttons. This would do. She walked back over to the dresser where she had noticed some pictures. One was of Yusuke with his arm around a girl with brown hair, who Rei could only assumed was Keiko. Another was of the four boys, Keiko and Botan. They all looked happy. Well, except for that Hiei fellow.

"What a weird group…" the girl mumbled. She put the picture down when she heard a soft knock from Yukina.

"The bath is ready whenever you are."

"I am." Yukina nodded and escorted Rei to the bathroom. The bathroom was separated into two parts. When you first walked in, there was a toilet and a sink. Then beyond a sliding door was where the bath resided.

"Are you familiar with Japanese customs?" asked Yukina.

"Uh, yeah a little. You wash off first with the shower then soak in the bath right?" said Rei, scratching her head.

"That's right. I left you some towels to use. I'll be down the hall in the kitchen. Please let me know if you need anything."

"I think I'm good. Thank you." Yukina gave a small smile and left Rei to clean herself. After Yukina had exited, she walked over to lock the door. She doubted that would stop anyone if they really wanted to come in but hey, it was the principle of the thing. Rei frowned when she turned and looked in the mirror. With her powers bound, her hair and eye color where looking more brown than golden. She turned away and started to peel her clothes off. Her joints popped and cracked at the movement. She sniffed her clothes and immediately gagged. Ew. Before walking into the other room she threw the clothes into the trash. She waited for the water of the shower to adjust to the correct temperature before letting it rush over her body. After that, she grabbed a soapy rag and scrubbed. She continued to scrub her whole body until it was red and raw. After her hair was washed and the water ran clear she hurried to the bath. Yukina had put lavender in the water for a more calming experience. She submerged herself under the water as she thought about all that had gone on in the past six months. This was the first time she'd had an opportunity to think and reflect on what had happened. She hadn't had time to think about her home being gone or the possibility of her friends being dead. She went through each battle and interaction with the enemy in her head to try and find anything she'd missed. It may seem cold-hearted, but that was how she was trained. Be a warrior first and a human later.

Back over in the other room the gang mulled over their new enemy and their new possible ally. "So, can we really trust the new girl?" asked Yusuke breaking the silence. Hiei scoffed at the question.

"She seems genuine," dared Kurama.

"Oh please. How do we know she wasn't the one who broke into the vault? She was able to get out of spirit cuffs by herself remember?" growled Hiei.

"Yukina did say she admitted to being in them a lot," recalled Kuwabara. "Shorty may be right."

"Geez it must be the apocalypse if _you're_ agreeing with Hiei!"

"Can it Urameshi! I'm just saying we should be careful. It's a little too convenient that we got that vase after someone tried to steal it. And then she just happens to show up in the same place as the vase? It's a little fishy."

"When you put it that way…" Botan worried.

"No, I believe we can trust her," stated Koenma. He held up the envelope with the seal. "See this seal? Only I have this seal and it's infused with my energy. Plus the letter contained classified information that only I know."

"What, like your favorite color or something?" Yusuke joked. Koenma stayed silent. There was that headache again. "Oh my god really?" Genkai hit him in the head with her fist.

"Can you be serious for once, dimwit?"

Koenma cleared his throat to get everyone's attention back on him. "I've looked at a summary of her history and she's been under some intense training. I'm sure that's where she learned how to get out of spirit cuffs. What I'm more worried about are these Kodaishi." The new king of spirit world rubbed his temples. "They caught Rei's world by surprise and it was destroyed. We can only hope that by knowing they exist we won't end up like that." At that point, Yukina announced that as soon as Rei was finished they could eat.

"I'm finished," came a voice from behind her. Rei was standing there drying her hair with a towel. "The bath was very nice. Thank you."

"Time to eat then," declared Yukina. As soon as the words had left her mouth, Yusuke and Kuwabara rushed towards the kitchen. Kurama chuckled, motioning for Rei to follow them.

The seat between Yukina and Genkai was left open for her to sit in. She quietly sat down as she looked at the array of food around the table. Rei let out a small high pitched squeal.

"Are you crying?" asked Kuwabara picking up his chop sticks.

"It's just all so beautiful," sniffed Rei. "I'm so happy. It's been so long since I had real food."

"Please take as much as you want," offered Yukina.

"Well, if you insist!" Rei started piling a large amount of food on her plate then proceeded to stuff her face. She paused and swallowed her food, feeling the piercing stares of eyes on her. "You see, it's really awkward when I'm the only one eating and people are staring at me."

"Haven't seen anyone eat like that since the dimwit," chuckled Genkai, jabbing a thumb in Yusuke's direction. Yusuke let out an angry 'hey!' before starting to pile food on his own plate.

"Forgive me, I haven't really had food since all the fighting started."

"Then please, don't mind us," reassured Kurama. Rei didn't have to be told twice as she continued eating. The table became silent as everyone began eating.

"So I still don't really get what a Spirit Guardian is," muttered Yusuke through a stuffed face. Rei, not wanting to look like even more of a heathen, swallowed her food before answering.

"We guard stuff," she pointed out matter-of-factly. Yusuke gave her a deadpan look.

"Well duh. I mean like, how do you become one?" Rei responded with a shrug as she continued eating. Kurama tapped his fingers on the table as he came up with an idea.

"Rei," he called getting her attention. "Back in my former life I was a thief, and because of that I was asked in this life to help break into a Spirit World vault. Needless to say Spirit World gave me community service by helping Yusuke with a case. That's how I became a member of this team." Rei let out an 'ooh' and she gathered more food.

"Every one of my people becomes a Spirit Guardian for at least a short amount of time in their life. We're called…well translated from our language would be… Elemental psychics. You're in the program until you can control your powers. Then it's your choice to leave or stay. Most of the time anyway."

"Hey why the hell do you keep answering Kurama when I'm the one that asks the questions?" yelled Yusuke.

"Information for information, Yusuke," chuckled Kurama. "It's the golden rule for thieves."

"Ah, you figured me out," she said surprised.

"I just know what signs to look for. I was a good thief."

"Once again the fox is being too modest," chimed in Hiei.

"Oh, para que puedas hablar, Puntiagudo! (oh, so you can talk, Spiky)"

Growling, Hiei broke his chopsticks in anger. "Look girl-"

"Mi nombre es Rei." She clarified putting a hand on her chest. Hiei harshly stood up, his newly broken chopsticks bursting into flame.

"You must have a death wish." Rei stood up and battled his fierce glare with a cocky one of her own.

"Pelea conmigo (Fight me)!"

"Do you two really have to antagonize each other at the dinner table?" groaned Botan.

"What was that word again? It was something in her language…" mumbled Koenma. Botan looked at the man beside her.

"Sir?"

"Was it Nasahai? No that wasn't it…" Koenma took out a piece of paper from his robes and scanned it.

"Lord Koenma?"

"Ah! Here it is!" Just as Hiei was taking out his sword and Rei was holding up a serving spoon, Koenma shouted out, "Nagasai!" Koenma's seal appeared on Rei's forehead. The fire in her eyes dulled and she collapsed back into her seat. She groaned as she rested her head on the table.

"Ah man, I was looking forward to that," whined Yusuke.

"What just happened?" asked Kuwabara.

"Rei is a brash individual with little regard for her own safety. She tends to not care when her body is recovering. Even with the seal constraining her powers, she still forces her energy out of her body, causing more damage. Installed with the seal is a trigger word which will make her as docile as a scruffed cat. It will only work if said by the great and powerful Lord Koenma himself," read off Koenma. He stuffed the paper back into his robe and rubbed his temples.

"Fuck you." The girl almost sounded drunk as she spoke into the table. After losing his will to fight the girl, Hiei sheathed his sword and left the table. He'd had enough for one day and needed to go blow off steam outside.

"Let's call it a night and talk about the enemies first thing tomorrow," sighed Genkai. If old age wasn't going to take her, she thought surely these idiots would.

"Do you think that wise Master Genkai?" asked Botan.

"Hiei's gone, Rei looks to be out of commission, and Koenma seems to be fighting a headache. Yes, I think fresh minds are just what we need. We wouldn't be able to do much else tonight anyway."

"I agree," echoed Kurama as he started gathering the dishes.

"You don't need to do that Kurama," reassured Yukina also picking up some dishes.

"You cooked the least I can do is help clean up."

"Yes Yukina let us help," cheered Botan also grabbing dishes.

"Thank you," she said sweetly. Genkai and Koenma both stood up.

"I'll be back in the morning," sighed Koenma as he made his way to the portal out in the courtyard.

"Dimwit, make sure you don't sleep in," ordered Genkai, also heading off to her room.

"Yeah whatever," Yusuke shouted back. "Kuwabara, ready for me to kick you're ass in some more video games?"

"I'm not rude like you Urameshi! I help my woman with the dishes!"

"We'll take care of it Kuzuma," giggled Yukina. Kuwabara grabbed her shoulders.

"You're the best girl a guy could ask for! I call first controller!" he shouted, running out of the room with Yusuke on his heels.

"Rei, are you going to be alright?" asked Yukina.

"Yeah," she responded weakly.

"Do you need help getting back to your room?" asked Kurama.

"No."

"Do you remember which one it was?" asked Botan.

"Yeah." They all said their goodnights before leaving Rei in the dining area. She stayed like that for a few more minutes before letting out a sigh. For the next few hours, she walked around the inside and outside of the compound to learn the layout. After that, she retired to her room to try and get some sleep. Not surprisingly, she wouldn't be getting any that night.


	3. What's a Spirit Sword

Rei knew she had bad luck. These last few months were proof of that, but she was getting a little tired of it. Nightmares had haunted her every time she closed her eyes and she wanted to work them off. In her earlier tour of the compound she'd found a training area with weapons and punching bags. She had planned to quietly train there _alone_ until morning. And really, if it had been _anyone_ else she'd found there when she'd arrived, she wouldn't have minded. Her eye twitched and she cursed her bad luck as she felt the hate rolling off of the man before her. His grip had tightened on the practice sword he was using as soon as she'd entered the room. But being the stubborn girl she was, Rei couldn't just turn around and leave. That would mean he'd won and that was unacceptable.

"Ne ne, Spiky what are you doing up?" she said with a faux smile. Hiei just rolled his eyes in response.

"So the girl can speak Japanese." Now it was Rei's turn to roll her eyes.

"Yeah well, taunting you in Spanish lost its fun," she retorted, walking over to the weapon racks.

"And what do you think you're doing?" he asked as she pick up a handful of throwing knives, causing her to turn around and raise an eyebrow at him.

"Training. What are _you_ doing?"

"Training." The blonde just shook her head and turned her attention towards the various sized targets spread out on the wall.

"Good talk," she said, throwing a knife and hitting a bull's-eye. As she was about throw another one, she turned back to him, annoyed, still feeling the fire demon's piercing glare upon her. "What?" she chided, blindly throwing another bull's-eye.

"I was here first."

"So?"

"Leave."

"What? No. This place is big enough for both of us. All you're doing is swinging around your little bamboo sword."

"Girl-"

"Rei."

"Girl." With a huff, Rei spun around and continued throwing knives. Hiei hoped one of those knives would bounce back and stab her instead of the bull's-eye. After letting out an angry scoff, he went back to hitting the dummy with his sword. After a few hits, however, he stopped and growled. That girl's glaze kept traveling back to him.

"What?" he asked, turning on a dime to glower at her. Rei quickly turned her attention back to her knives.

"Nothing!"

"Girl I'm about to switch to my katana and use you as the dummy!" Rei let out a disapproving "tsk" and threw another knife.

"At least fix the way you hold your sword before you try and kill me," she scoffed, throwing her final knife.

"What?" he growled. Was this girl _really_ trying to tell him how to use a sword?

"You press your hand against the guard too hard. Eventually you'll warp it and _then_ your swings will be off and _then_ you'll die because you didn't give a precise enough killing blow. On second thought just keep doing what you're doing."

"And what do you know?"

"A lot actually," she said making her way back over to the weapon stand and picking up and unsheathing a sword. "I'm a weapon master."

"I don't believe you," he said, switching out the training sword for his real one.

"I can tell you're self-taught. At least you started off that way." She twirled the sword around getting use to the weight. "You may have been trained later on, but you can't hide your bad habits from me. Just shift your hand down a millimeter and you'll be fine."

"If you're so good prove it," the fire demon said shifting into a fighting stance. Rei smirked and got into her own fighting stance. Maybe her luck wasn't that awful. This was definitely better than the workout she was originally planning on getting.

The next morning, Kurama strode into the meeting room to a mess of snacks all over the floor, surrounding the two best friends sprawled out in the middle. The two fools had gotten in a fierce video game competition and ended up staying awake all night.

"Well that's one way to make sure you get to a meeting on time," laughed Botan.

"Oh Kazuma," chuckled Yukina. Upon hearing the voice of his love, Kuwabara jumped up, stepping on Yusuke in the process.

"Yukina!" Yusuke grumbled incoherently, rubbing his lower ribs.

"What the hell Kuwabara? I didn't order a wake-up call!" he growled, kicking him in the butt. Before any fighting could ensue, however, Koenma and Genkai strolled in.

"I'm surprised both of you are here on time," said Genkai. Koenma nodded in agreement.

"Good we can start this meeting on time for once," he said.

"Not quite," said Kurama. "Hiei and Rei aren't here yet." Everyone looked around to see that Kurama was right.

"That's odd. Hiei is usually quite punctual," said Botan.

"I hope everything is alright. You don't think they got into a fight do you?" asked Yukina.

"There was some high tension between them last night," said Yusuke. Yukina started to look worried.

"Oh I'm sure they're fine," said Botan.

"No you definitely cheated!" came a voice from outside.

"I don't cheat. You're skill level isn't as high as you think it is," came another voice. They were getting closer.

"No, that can't be it," said Rei as she opened the rice paper door. Hiei rolled his eyes as he brushed past her into the room and over to his window sill. "Uh rude, haven't you ever heard of ladies first?"

"What lady?" Rei was about to retort, but Kurama cut her off.

"Is everything okay?"

"Hiei's a cheater!" she said pointing an accusing finger at the red eyed demon.

"How so?" asked Yusuke, pulling his hair back into his signature look.

"We were racing and he ran on the trees while I had to run on the uneven ground! I almost twisted my ankle!" she yelled, pointing an accusing finger his way.

"I believe the terms stated that whoever got back to the temple first was the winner. You never specified the route. Maybe _you_ should learn to word your challenges _more precisely_." Rei's mouth hung open as she tried to think of anything to say back.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm taller than you, _shorty_." Hiei ignored the girl and stared out the window. Koenma let out a loud cough.

"If you two are done acting like children, there is something very important I need to show everyone," he said. After not getting any response from the two he continued. "The envelope I received yesterday contained this." He held up a DVD in a clear jewel case.

"What's on it?" Kuwabara inquired.

"Information," he stated, walking over to the DVD player and inserting the disk. Everyone took their seats and waited for him to press play. After a quick glace towards Rei, (and receiving a raised eyebrow in return) he pressed play. On the screen appeared a baby Koenma holding a torch in front of his name, followed by an ogre roaring like a pathetic lion in the 'e' of Koenma. Everyone save for Koenma himself dead-panned the screen. Rei gasped when a Teen Koenma faded in. This was her Koenma: The one she'd grown up around, not this world's Koenma.

"Did you like my intro? I thought of it myself," said Rei's Koenma proudly. Rei rolled her eyes at him and muttered a soft "dork" under her breath. "If you're watching this, I am probably dead." The air became thick as everyone glanced at Rei. Her own glance was towards the floor, though her breath stayed steady. "It also means that the merger was successful, and that the Kodaishi are on their way to destroy anything in their way. I'm not sure how much Rei was able to tell you but they are an ancient race, far older than me. To tell you the truth I always thought they were just stories my father would tell me to make me behave. We know very little about them." A picture of a block of ancient writing appeared in the corner. "This is a paragraph from a very old scroll tucked away in the deepest part of the archives. Unfortunately, the language is very old so it took some time to decipher. I'm sure, however, that Rei can read it with no trouble." The gang turned their eyes back to the girl who was studying it deeply.

"Eight were born to balance the world… they were equal… they weren't involved with mortal life…for one it wasn't enough…he got…uhh… Kisainoz…kisainoz…followers I guess is the closest word to that… one was against all this… he thought they should be hidden from the world. The first guy was able to convince six others to join his side. A battle happened, two items were created, and the seven were sealed." Rei rubbed her temples. "Sorry, there's more details but some words don't translate. They're too old."

"Interesting, you can really read all of that," stated Kurama. Rei gave a kind of motion with her hand.

"Guardians use a more modern version of this for their language. A much _much_ more modern version. Plus when I was younger they shoved any kind of language they could into my brain. Some stuck. Most didn't," she added with a shrug.

"The two items in the text are The Urn and The Orb," continued the Koenma on the screen. "The Urn seemed to have more text on it that looked like instructions, but unfortunately our Urn was broken, making it impossible to properly decipher. And The Orb… Rei can tell you about that later." TV Koenma took a deep breath. "Our enemy broke one of their seals, destroyed Earth, and is currently trying to work their way into the Spirit World. In order to slow them down, we'll go into complete lock-down, trapping them in the Spirit World before they can destroy the demon world. One has already made its way there but at least we can stop the others while we prepare for a merger between our realm and yours. It won't stop the Kodaishi, but hopefully it will slow them down enough for you to find your Urn and Orb.

"Now for a little information about how this merger works. Time isn't a factor. The merger happens all at once, but the demons and Elementals – oh those are the humans who make up the guardians. They're psychics with different elemental powers… Where was I… Right, the demons and Elementals won't all show up at once. This way, your realm won't go into a kind of shock from all of the new energies. It might be a couple of days before you find anyone you know Rei, so _be_ _patient_. I know that's hard for you." Rei scowled at this and slouched in her seat. "This is all the information I can give you. I wish I had more." TV Koenma paused with his eyes closed before reopening them. They had a deep look of determination as he called out Rei's name. Her attention snapped at the seriousness in his voice. "As much of a pain in the ass you were, I enjoyed working with you. I know we didn't always see eye to eye but you were one of my most loyal friends." Sadness crossed his eyes as Rei's hair covered her down-cast eyes. "I… I could never apologize enough for what my father put you through. I should have done more to put a stop to it, but please don't hold it against this new Realm's Koenma. He may be a better man than I."

"Don't be stupid," the girl said softly.

" _Kashe_ , Rei," he said with a final tearful smile before the screen went blank. Kashe. One of the few Guardian words Koenma could speak. It meant love. Not the passionate kissy-kissy kind of love that Rei didn't believe in, but the love you feel from a deep friendship. One that was rare for people like her. One that was gone now. Koenma had been there for as long as she could remember. He was there when others refused to be. There had only ever been three people she fully trusted. Now one of them was dead and the other two were MIA. Once again, she was left alone. The sound of Yusuke's voice dragged her out of her downward spiral.

"What did Enma do that was so bad?" Rei didn't respond. "Oh right. Information for information."

"No amount of information will ever get me to tell you about that!" she snapped. Yusuke gulped as a glare that rivaled Hiei's sent chills down his spine.

"Sorry. Won't ask again," he said getting back his composer. "So now what do we do?"

"Train," Genkai replied curtly. "We have a new member on our team. You should learn how to fight alongside her. Besides, there might be some things she can teach you dimwit."

"I won't be very impressive," Rei said. "My energies are sealed and I used whatever reserved energy I had scaring away those demons from yesterday." Kurama questionably looked at her when she said energies but didn't press it. She didn't seem to want to talk about herself too much and even though he didn't fully trust her, she could still have valuable information they could use.

"If you can't rely on your strengths we'll work on your weaknesses," smirked Genkai.

Rei's eye twitched. "That…doesn't sound fun," she grumbled. Hiei snorted and all attention was turned to him.

"Training isn't about fun. It's about becoming stronger," he scoffed.

"You're a sad little man aren't ya?" she asked.

"She's got you there Shorty," laughed Yusuke. Hiei growled, narrowing his eyes at her murderously. It didn't seem to bother her though, as her attention was focused on Kuwabara and Yusuke howling with laughter.

Koenma let out a sigh as he stood up. "I must be going. There is still much I have to go over, but I felt it was best to share the DVD." Rei nodded her thanks. She was still weary of this Koenma, but her own had told her to give him a chance. She could at least try to do that much.

"If everyone is done being a bunch of lazy dimwits, I suggest we move to the training grounds," Genkai's voice traveled back from outside the doorway.

The training area was a large patch of bare ground surrounded by green grass. A large Willow tree stood off to the side, allowing anyone who was not fighting to watch from under the comfort of the tree's shade. Yukina and Botan, who had been given permission to stay, were currently unfolding a blanket to sit on.

"So what are we doing? One on one? Two on two? Free for all?" asked Yusuke eagerly as he stretched out his arms, wind-milling them a couple of times.

"I was thinking we could see what our new companion was capable of," offered Kurama. "Powers bound or not, your skills should still show through." Rei gave him a soft glare. Despite seeing the sensibility of the proposition, she made no move to show she agreed.

"Don't feel confident without a weapon in your hand?" smirked Genkai, receiving Rei's next dirty look. "You weapon masters are all the same. Spend all your time mastering your chosen weapons, but forget to train your most important weapon. Your body." Rei's eye twitched as Genkai's words hit home.

"Were you spying on Hiei and I's conversion last night?"

"This is my temple. It's not considered spying."

"You and Shorty were hanging out last night?" asked Kuwabara. "You're not a thing or something are you?" Kuwabara teased, immediately shrinking away as two equally cold glares bored into his soul. "I was joking. Lighten up!" Sensing the growing tension, Botan decided to distract them by changing the subject.

"So Rei, what weapons have you mastered?"

"All of them," Rei said, as if it was the most obvious answer. Botan's eyes widened.

"A-all of them?!" she stuttered, shocked.

"There's no way," said Yusuke. "There's no way you could have mastered every single weapon known to man!" Rei tilted her head in thought.

"Well I guess that's true, but they're not so different from each other really. I could figure anything new out once I see it."

"So if I gave you a stick you could use it as a deadly weapon," asked Kuwabara.

"A stick is just an uneven uncrafted staff. Find its balance and you can use it as one, assuming the length is right. If it's not, stab the delicate parts of the body. Certain parts of the neck are easy to pierce. Anyone who knows how to fight should know that much" she said blankly. Kuwabara and Yusuke gaped at Rei's nonchalant insult.

"We don't need to fight with sticks to win a battle!" chanted Yusuke. "Our weapons are always on us!"

"Yeah! I've got a sword!" yelled Kuwabara, bringing out his Spirit Sword. Rei stared intensely at the blazing energy with wide eyes.

"How?" she asked pointing straight at the sword. Kuwabara looked taken aback, not really understanding what she was asking. In an instant, she was in his personal bubble grabbing his hand and pulling the sword closer to her face.

'She's fast. Faster than she was this morning,' thought Hiei. He knew he should be mad that she hadn't put any effort into the challenge she had suggested, but instead there was a spark of excitement. He was looking forward to see what she was hiding. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he noticed something red that seemed to be coming from Rei out of the corner of his eye. 'What was that?' He turned his head, trying to get a clear view, but it had disappeared. He pushed it to the back of his mind and turned his attention back to the girl practically begging the big oaf to teach her how to create a spirit sword.

"Has no one in your world used their spirit energy before?" the orange head asked, stepping back to give himself more space.

"No! At least not like that!" she said hungrily. "I mean we infuse it in our weapons or our element but not anything pure like that!" She paused and put her forefinger to her chin. "Well there is one person I know who can, but she only makes shields… Besides energy is her element. She's supposed to be able to do cool things like that!"

"Energy element?" asked a very confused Yusuke.

"Yeah, it's a branched element, so not many people have it."

"Huh?" Rei looked around at everybody staring at her.

"Do you not have Elemental humans here?" she questioned.

"There have been some psychics that have acquired different powers over time, but I feel like this isn't the same as what you are talking about," stated Kurama. Rei nodded in understanding as she lowered herself to the ground and created four circles in the dirt. The gang crowded around her, except Hiei and Genkai, and watched intensely.

"Yeah we aren't just one individual psychic. We're a whole race of them." She continued as she added a symbol in each circle. "75% of our race has one of the four main elements; Air, water, earth, and fire." Off of each circle she made a line that connected to another circle. She continued to add a symbol to these four new circles. "Only 23% have one of the branch energies-"

"And the last 2%?" interrupted Yusuke. Rei wrinkled her nose in thought.

"Other," she said shortly. She finished drawing the last symbol before continuing. "So, Branch Elements are rarer and more difficult to control. Air's branch element is Energy, water's is ice, earth is plants, and fire is lighting."

"Do you get to pick which one you want?" asked Botan.

"No," she said shaking her head. "You're born with it. You have to be in the spirit guardian program until you're able to control it."

"And after that?" asked Kurama. This had been the most information they had been able to get out of Rei thus far. He was curious as to how far they could push before she clammed back up.

"You can either choose to continue working for them or leave and have a normal life," she responded.

"I'm assuming you chose to stay," the fox pushed. The air around her suddenly lost its happy energy it had had.

"Not… really," she said slowly. Kurama decided not to press it and asked a different question.

"Do the people in this program work for Koenma?"

"Uh, not exactly. More it works for Spirit World in general," she said hesitantly.

"So if you're one of these Elemental humans, which element is yours?" asked Kuwabara. Kurama sent a silent thank you as the question seemed to bring back her quirky energy.

"Ne ne, why don't you guess?" she taunted. Kuwabara and Yusuke looked at each other, then down at the symbols drawn on the ground.

"Can you give us a hint?" asked Yusuke.

"That's no fun," she smiled.

"Well, we know it's not energy or she wouldn't be so excited to see Kuzuma's sword," Yukina chimed in.

"Yukina love! You're so smart!" cheered Kuwabara as he grabbed the ice maiden's hand, giving her a toothy smile. Hiei let out a low growl that went unnoticed by most. Kurama, of course, noticed. But so did Rei. She shot a quick, curious look at Hiei and then straight back to her drawings.

"Alright I think I got it!" shouted Yusuke. "You're obviously earth!" Rei let out a loud laugh.

"Not even close!"

"Then what about water?" guessed Kuwabara.

"Ew no way!"

"It's lighting," stated Kurama. Rei instantly stopped laughing and stared wide eyed at him.

"Man you're dangerous. How'd you figure it out?"

"Even if your energy is sealed, I can still feel traces of it. It has a very electrifying quality to it. Additionally, when you attacked with that arrow I could see a bit of lighting in it," he said matter-of-factly. Rei smirked.

"Wow wow, looks like I'll have to be careful around you," she joked.

"Is there a reason you'd have to be?" he countered.

"A girl has to keep her secrets." She leapt up from her crotched position and turned her attention back to Kuwabara. "So can you teach me how to do that now?"

Kuwabara rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, well I've never taught anyone like this before… I kind of just learned how to do it on my own so I wouldn't know where to start." Rei gave him a sad puppy dog eyed look and let out a small whimper. "But I'm sure Genkai can teach you! She's an awesome teacher!" Rei blankly looked over to Genkai who stood a few feet away with her hands behind her back. Rei turned back to the boy.

"I don't know. She seems kind of scary." Yusuke let a boisterous laugh out.

"You aren't wrong!"

"Shut it dimwit!" growled Genkai. "If you're serious about learning I'll teach you. But only if you're serious."

"Of course!" yelled Rei.

"Then we begin now." Genkai rushed towards Rei and let out a series of punches and kicks. The boys jumped back, taking the two non-fighters with them. Rei let out a yelp as she clumsily dodged.

"What the hell!" she shouted. Genkai kicked her in the head, sending her skidding across the ground.

"I have to evaluate your skills," she said simply. "So far I'm not impressed with your dodging skills, but at least you know how to brace yourself to take the least amount of damage." Rei stood back up and brushed the dirt off her clothes.

"Yeah, I've been told that my whole life. I absolutely suck at dodging."

"I take it your strengths are in mid- or long-ranged attacks."

"Bingo!" Botan perked at her choice of words while Yusuke just groaned.

"We have a lot to work on," said Genkai. "Boys, train on your own. I will be training with Rei." The blonde gulped. Somehow she didn't feel like this was the best idea.


End file.
